Progress Party (Luthori)
Green|Seats1 Title = Holy Imperial Diet|Seats1 = |Seats2 Title = Electoral Regions Held|Seats2 = |Seats3 Title = Cabinet Positions|Seats3 = |Website = www.ProgressParty.org.lu|party_logo = |politics = Politics of Luthori|political parties = Political Parties of Luthori|elections = Most Recent General Election}}The Progress Party is a centrist political party in the Holy Luthori Empire, it was founded in mid-3837 by Roman Florentine, a former Government & Politics lecturer. He was joined by several political activists and more right-wing Social Democratic League members. Following the 3868 Election the party suffered from large infighting between the left and right factions. The party split in two with the Progress banner being abandoned. The left faction formed the Liberal Progressive Party (Luthori) and the right faction formed The Moderate Party. The party was refounded again in December 3970 by Ruth Mackie the great great niece of the parties founder, Roman Florentine, this was her first steps into politics following her military service spanning eight years, and her local news career. Founding Figures The PP was founded by three key figures in June of 3837, often referred to as the 'gang of three' they made up the early senior leadership of the party. Roman Florentine, the man most associated with the foundation of the party was a politics lecturer at Helston University and was well regarded by students at the university, he was appointed the parties first leader at its foundation conference. Marianne Flicket, more commonly known as Moxie, was a highly regarded animator and artist within the internet community and had made several entrances into mainstream news with the success of several animation series. Her entrance into politics was unexpected having never explicitly stated a political opinion. Her popularity among the youth proved key to the party and her artistic abilities has proved useful in setting up a successful media department. Suzanne Evans was a key media figure when the party was first founded, she helped organise the parties election manifestos and headed up the parties election campaigns. She became well known in the media for a her relaxed manner and good natured and jokey approach. Progress's Goal The party knew it would be difficult to form a majority government given Luthori's proportional system and ever increasing range of parties. The party set itself the goal of influencing a coalition government or holding the 'feet to the fire' if they remained on the opposition benches following an election. The parties overriding goal is to create a free and fair society for all. The party sitting in the centre appeals to people with this ideal largely. The party also aimed to end the dominance of the Liberal Alliance and the Cavalier Partybecome the alternative centre-right party in Luthori. The party is also staunchly anti-monarchy and wished to seek the complete abolishment of the monarchy and the nobility in Luthori. This was seen as its main policy that distinguished it from the rest of the centre-right and right-wing parties. Party Leadership Leaders of the Progress Party are elected via the Alternative Vote system. Anyone who has been a member for at least two years and has the backing of 10% of the parliamentary members or 100 signatories from confirmed members. The party members then receive a ballot paper with the list of candidates and are asked to vote in preference depending on the number of candidates. The candidate with lowest votes is eliminated and then those votes are reasigned to their second preference. This process continues until a candidate reaches 50% of the vote. Party Chairmen Presidential Candidates Party Factions The Progress Party has no official factions however many newspapers and analysts have identified four clear dividing lines within the party, which are more often referred to as the 'tribes of Progress'. Blue Progress Once the core of the party, they are the Cavalier's in exile. Characterised by the phrase “I didn’t leave the Cavalier Party, the Cavalier Party left me”, some of them have come to hate their former compatriots who have not followed their path into the party. They are low tax, pro-business with a crust of social conservatism, free traders but anti-immigration. They prefer their party when it is acting as the economic and social conscience of the right Red Progress They may have risen to prominence far more recently than their Blue companions, but what is now known as Red Progress has its roots relatively early in the party’s history. Gerard Batten, one of their first Members of the Diet, comes from a more leftish worldview than most of his fellow party co-founders. Grey Progress It is a fact that Progress's electoral base is older than the average. As a symptom of this, what we might call Grey Progress has become hard-wired into the insurgents’ thinking. Even more than Cavalier or the Liberal Alliance, they cannot afford to annoy older voters. Some of that is reflected in their emphasis on social conservatism - such voters made it worthwhile for a self-described “libertarian” party to suddenly oppose the right of consenting adults to formalise their love through marriage was a remarkable departure, for example, and nostalgia for grammar schools speaks to much the same audience. Bright Green Progress The newest development, and potentially the most interesting, Bright Green Progress are those who identify as libertarian, direct democrat, free trading and outward-looking. Fundamentally optimistic about Luthori and the world, they are distinctly less uncomfortable with the idea of immigration or Same Sex Marriage than the party’s official line, and believe that their position holds both more worthwhile aims and greater long-term potential. Electoral Results Parliamentary Results | | valign="top" | |} Presidential Results Post Re-founding History The re-founding of the party caused a lot of media attention, especially due to the heritage of Ruth Mackie and what it symbolised to many older Luthorians, a sense of familiarity, the party had been the front of Luthori Politics in the mid-3800s and was party of many people's early introduction to politics. Ruth Mackie built the party from the bottom up again, paying tribute to the 'Gang of Three' which had founded the party, over one hundred years ago. She chose to re-launch the party on the day which the party had split into the Moderate Party and the Liberal Progressive Party. In her speech she stated the party would be 'soft-conservative' and 'staunchly republican' in its views. The party became the third largest party following the 3971 General Election, which resulted in a hung parliament. Following bitter in-fighting in the Luthori Independence Party on its failure to win more seats the party collapsed, the more moderate side of the party merging into Progress. The party rocketed into first place in the 3972 General Election, which saw the parliament filled with republican parties, which took a whopping 79% of the overall vote, thus beginning Luthori's move to a republic, overseen by the now Imperial Chancellor, Ruth Mackie. In the 3974 election the Progress Party were decimated losing 119 seats in the election, following a series of public internal disputes over the direction of the party, largely led by Albert Stein who saw Mackie as too soft in her approach to conservatism. The party also failed to register in time for the first presidential election. She resigned with immediate effect as Chairman of the Progress Party. In the years between 3974 and early 3982 the party drifted around with little to no direction under Fulkirk's leadership, many papers said he was a man of great promise who was stuck in the wrong era. Follow poor results in the January 3982 election where the party suffered it's worst result he was going to resign. However snap elections prevented him from doing so, where his party made small gains, but in the Imperial Viceroy elections the party made a huge impact with their candidate Jayne Warren, who garnered over sixteen million votes, and made it into the second round. He resigned following the election sticking to his original intention, and Warren took leadership of the party. Category:Political parties in Luthori